Big Ten’s title game rights to hit market

The Big Ten Conference is
preparing to auction the TV rights to its new football championship game, a
move that industry insiders say could fetch $15 million to $20 million a year.

The conference also plans
to reopen its current deal with ESPN to account for the addition of Nebraska,
and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said an increase in its rights fee from the
network is expected.

The championship game,
which will debut in 2011, is not part of the conference’s current media
contract with ESPN and will be treated as a separate property.

“It’s going to be a full-fledged jump ball on the championship
game,” Delany said. “This will be a stand-alone entity, in terms of the media
negotiations.”

Delany already has had
preliminary talks with ESPN, Fox and CBS for the game, while NBC and Turner
also are expected to show interest, industry sources said. ESPN and Fox are
considered the clear front-runners for picking up the rights. While ESPN has its
existing media deal, Fox has partnered with the conference on the Big Ten
Network.

Bidding is expected to start in October, after the conference
settles on its two new six-school divisions.

In addition to the championship game talks, the Big Ten early
this fall plans to seek a raise over its current broadcast deal with ESPN. With
Nebraska officially joining the Big Ten next year, as of July 1, Delany said he
expects the conference to be paid more than the $100 million-per-year average
that ESPN agreed to in 2007-08 as part of a 10-year deal.

It’s expected that the conference’s best will play for
the title in prime time.

The inaugural Big Ten championship game will be held in
December 2011 in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. The game is expected to be
played in prime time, following the SEC’s championship game, which is carried
by CBS and in recent years has had a late-afternoon Saturday kickoff. The Big
Ten game would fill a slot that has been occupied by the Big 12’s championship
game, which typically has had an 8 p.m. ET kickoff.

With the Big 12 losing two schools in this summer’s conference
realignment wave, the Big 12 as a 10-school conference won’t have enough
members to stage a championship game under current NCAA rules.

Championship game ratings in 2009Games were played Dec. 5

Conference

Teams

Kickoff (ET)

Net

Avg. rating
(no. of viewers)

SEC

Alabama-Florida

4 p.m.

CBS

11.1 (17.969 million)

Big 12

Texas-Nebraska

8 p.m.

ABC

7.5 (12.693 million)

ACC

Georgia Tech-Clemson

8 p.m.

ESPN

1.6 (2.541 million)

Sources: The Nielsen Co., SportsBusiness Daily archives

Industry sources believe the Big Ten championship game could
command $15 million to $20 million a year for a number of reasons. First, it
has at least two serious bidders in ESPN and Fox. In the past few years, ESPN
has made a big bet on college sports, picking up as many rights as it can. Fox
has made no secret of its desire to pick up college football rights and made a
surprisingly bold run for the ACC earlier this year.

Second, ratings for similar games have been high. Last year’s
SEC championship game pulled an 11.1 rating and 17.969 million viewers, the
highest-ever viewership for the SEC’s title
matchup. The game featured Florida and Alabama, the nation’s top two teams at
the time.

The Big Ten’s marquee
regular-season matchup — Ohio State and Michigan — pulled a 4.2 rating and
6.773 million viewers on ABC last year even though the game kicked off at noon,
a traditionally weak time slot for ratings, and featured a subpar Michigan team
with a 5-6 record.

The SEC, Big 12 and ACC
previously have not broken out their championship games as separate entities
from their overall broadcast agreements.

The SEC’s championship game
was valued at $10 million to CBS in 2008 when the conference and network struck
their 15-year deal for an average of $55 million a year, according to sources
familiar with the talks. But a more current valuation of the title game is
closer to $15 million.

Each broadcast deal includes
a “conference composition” clause that allows a contract to be renegotiated if
the member schools in a conference change. ESPN elected not to exercise the
clause with the Big 12 after it lost Colorado and Nebraska in June. But with
the Big Ten’s addition of Nebraska — and the Cornhuskers’ reputation as a
college football powerhouse — Delany said ESPN should pay more.

With the Big Ten entering
the fourth year of a 10-year deal, it remains to be seen whether these talks
will produce an extension as well. The composition clause will not lead to an
increase in the number of Big Ten games on ESPN or ABC.